W&L’s Lenfest Center welcomes The Missing Element, a team of street dancers, with The Beatbox House for a performance on Thursday, Sept. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre located in Lenfest Hall.
The Missing Element fuses street dancing and beatboxing in a cinematic whirlwind of sound and movement. Led by creative directors Chris Celiz, a world champion beatboxer, and breakdancer Anthony Vito Rodriguez, nicknamed “Invertebrate,” the performance pushes creative boundaries and redefines the artistic potential of street dance and beatboxing in a more classical performance space, said a spokesperson. Street dance styles of krump, flexN, and breaking converge to the 100% human-generated rhythms of The Beatbox House, a NYC-based collective of world champion beatboxers.
The Missing Element plays off of the cipher — an original hip-hop and rap concept — to spotlight both dancers and musicians. The performance explores the elements of earth, wind, fire and water — embracing the diversity of each dance style — giving dancers space to embrace their background and add a level of personal interpretation alongside creative direction.
The project was first commissioned in 2019 by Works & Process and was subsequently developed through a series of residencies from 2020 to 2023. Initially designed for the circular architecture of the Guggenheim, and performed throughout the pandemic at Little Island, the Guggenheim Museum rotunda, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and NY PopsUp, the show has since expanded, bringing its performance to stages like W&L’s.
In addition to their full performance, The Missing Element will host two dance master classes — one with W&L Dance and one with The Rockbridge Ballet. Further, the group will be doing two popup performances on the W&L campus on Sept. 16 and 17, including a sneak-peak performance during a “Club” theme dinner hour at The Marketplace.
Tickets are required. Tickets prices are $35 for the general public, $32 for seniors, $29 for W&L faculty/staff and $8 for students. Online ticket sales are available at https://my.wlu.edu/ lenfest-center/the-missing-element- with-the-beatbox-house.
The box office is open for in-person sales Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Patrons can contact the box office by calling (540) 458-8000 or emailing boxoffice@ wlu.edu.
